Junkyard Blues

In Cameroon life isnít only like living in limbo, it is like living in the very centre of a hellish junkyard where dreams are dumped and wishes shattered at will by forces which can barely be controlled or understood. It is in this junkyard of dreams that Jude Maimo finds himself after years of studies and obtaining a university degree that could not even procure him a decent job. Reluctantly living under his brotherís care after having failed grossly in an attempt to be independent, and doing a job that is more than an insult to him, he still hopes to one day live his simple dream; furthering his education long enough to have a respectable and decent job that could make him truly independent. Entangled in a relationship he can barely understand and weighed down by the daily temptations of natural life, a long lost friend from back in his school days suddenly appears as a light to lead him to the end of the tunnel. But a little too late, he discovers that the promised light of salvation is just another face of darkness, a darkness that wants more than his soul, a darkness that can only lead to tragedyÖ.

Cover

Title Page, Copyright

Prologue

He felt it start from the pit of his stomach; a big ugly wave that was
only bound to go up toward his mouth. His crowded stomach
gave a name to that wave before his brain could register it; it was
nausea and it was so strong that he knew everything inside his stomach was
going to come spilling out at any moment. ...

Chapter
One

The moon looks bigger through this tiny hole, he thought looking up at the
full moon that occupied all his view. It was as if the moon was just
hanging outside the hole, mocking him for his lack of freedom to
see it from outside. All this lack of freedom because of a few hot
words…Because of a case of simple straight forward and justifiable anger. ...

Chapter
Two

Well, it did not just start immediately. He was a new breed, a new
specimen being introduced into a new world, a world that was
already occupied by the true occupants. He was a new animal being
introduced into a cage that already had other animals and these ones a step
toward wild. ...

Chapter Three

Derrick owns a car. It is an old model Toyota Carina 2, the type that
every Toyota manufacturer has already forgotten about. The car
needs a lot more parts and a lot more paint to look anything as the
manufacturer intended, and it has a funny tendency of leaving the house with
Derrick sitting behind the wheel ...

Chapter Four

The decision was made and he was not given the chance to debate
it. The decision was made and there was nothing he could do about it. He
was going back under Derrick’s wings again, and going back while his head
was bowed to the ground in shame. ...

Chapter Five

Hell is a place of untold and unending torture. A place of suffering
beyond the grasp of the human mind. A place where the soul
languishes in eternity, begging for death to come and erase it from
existence. It is managed by a big fiery devil who goes by the name of Lucifer,
who is assisted by a couple of demons, red demons with tails and tiny horns. ...

Chapter Six

It was going to be another “your future” talk, Jude could
see that. It was not something new and if there was something that he knew
it was that nothing worthwhile ever came out from them. Today it was going
to be about the recruitment exercise launched by the government to recruit
young university graduates. ...

Chapter Seven

There had been a lot of talks about his future, ever since he left the
university over four years ago. What all the “your future” talks were
characteristic of was that they were always engineered by Derrick.
And they were all centered around the short-cut approach, the easiest andfastest-
means possible approach ...

Chapter Eight

Jude looked up from the notebook in which he was logging
the last sale he had made. The face before him had a characteristic
warm smile that was mixed with some air of sincere stubbornness. The face
belonged to a young man about his age, a young man who was shorter,
rounder with fresh fat deposits already making his belly to swell. ...

Chapter Nine

People call it a lot of things, but most of the times they just call it the
sixth sense. It is that other imaginary sense, that other aspect to know
things without using the normal five known senses. It is great in
detecting something abnormal in the air before that something is evident. ...

Chapter Ten

Such things happen, he wanted to tell himself. Such things happen to
people around the world, they had been happening and they will
always be happening. It had happened to people far greater than him,
presidents and kings and all the like. It was normal just like breathing was
normal. It was nothing big, nothing at all. ...

Chapter Eleven

They sat for a while in silence, Niba indicating to the barman to serve
them again. After the new beers were before them and Niba had taken a long
drink he said, “It’s not like we don’t know her. We know her, man, and she’s
a…” he took another drink, “She’s not the type to even start thinking about
anything silly.” ...

Chapter Twelve

It happened again and it had not been in his plan, but it happened. He
had tried to avoid it, but to no avail. It happened even after that effort.
It was like there was some mighty hand, some invisible mighty hand that
was always standing by to take control of himself; take control and
manipulate him like a puppet on strings, ...

Chapter Thirteen

She turned around on the bed again behind him, another tiny moan
escaping from her throat. She was now staring at his naked back, and
he could feel her sad eyes on his back. It was something he had never
been able to explain, that ability to always feel her eyes on him even if he
could not see her staring at him. ...

Chapter Fourteen

He finally reached Derrick’s house that eventful evening. It was
already a few minutes past 10pm. He was anticipating and hating
the fact that he was going to knock at the door and stand there
waiting for the door to be open for him by an annoyed Derrick and for the
obvious questions to start flying. ...

Chapter Fifteen

The next couple of days were the longest he had ever experienced.
Each day was so slow in passing that it felt like a whole week. And
he spent them trying hard to wear a mask of normalcy over his face,
a mask that was completely porous. His brain was wearing its own mask, a
mask of denial. ...

Chapter Sixteen

It wasn’t like he had made any decision; he told himself, when he walked
up to his boss the next day. He was just trying to gather some nuts for
the coming dry season and that was all. And the truth was that if
somebody had asked him why he had decided to go see his boss, he would
have simply blinked fast and stood there looking at that person with an open
mouth and a tight tongue. ...

Chapter Seventeen

That was the word, that word that was going to solve everything.
But, he had never thought about it in a way that it would pertain to
him, not in the least. He had never seen himself in the crossroad, imploring
that word to guide him, to get him out. It had been something for the weak
and the cowardly hearted, ...

Chapter Eighteen

The doctor smiled at him, a smile that said he was used to people like
him, anxious young people whom he had to listen to patiently and answer all
their questions and try to calm them down. Anxious young people like him
who were silly enough to have fallen into the trap of pregnancy and who
were always knocking at the door of his clinic, ...

Chapter Nineteen

She was lying on her back on a bed that was small even for somebody
like her. She was staring up at the ceiling, her hands behind her head.
But the first thing he noticed was her eyes staring up at the ceiling.
They had a new quality of sadness about them, and they did not even turn
towards him to acknowledge his presence as he entered the ward. ...

Chapter Twenty

Forgetting is one of the greatest properties God handed down to
mankind. Though in most instances it is a curse that no one wants to
be part of, but there are still those rare times when that curse is a
cherished gift. It is a gift that promotes healing, healing even from the most
heinous acts. ...

Chapter Twenty-one

One day, Okoro started talking about his mysterious friend with the
big shiny car again. It was on a clear and bright morning in the
middle of March; the rainy season having made its graceful
entrance, making the ugly dust varnish from every tree leaf and every roof
top. ...

Chapter Twenty-two

It was a slow day, the slowest he could ever remember. It was as if the
hand of the clock was frozen in one place. But he knew time was
something that could not be frozen in one place. It was just the anxiety
inside and the aspect of waiting that was giving him that feeling. ...

Chapter Twenty-three

“How do you mean?” the man said with that smile still on his face. It was
a smile he had known, a smile he could still remember even after four whole
years. The only problem was that the smile was on the wrong face, on a face
that he did not know, a face he had never seen. This was somebody he knew
nothing about, this person standing before him. ...

Chapter Twenty-four

Yes, that was the issue; he had been expecting to hear something out of
this world, some story that was going to sound completely bogus. A lottery
ticket winning story perhaps, or Eric finding some hidden diamond or gold.
Not some simple story about doing business and getting lucky, which was
strangely a simply straight forward story. ...

Chapter Twenty-five

That night Jude lay in bed on his back staring up at the ceiling unable
to go to sleep. He still could not believe the events of the day, that
he had spent the evening with Eric, the poor humble fellow he had
known back then who was now a totally new and altered Eric. ...

Chapter Twenty-six

“Did you ask him for some network?” Niba asked. It was already two
days since his epiphany, and they were sitting over a few bottles of beer in
their favorite bar (beer that was being paid for this time by Jude). The bar
was still almost empty, with just a few early customers. ...

Chapter Twenty-seven

It became the only thing alive in his head (even if it filled him with shame
and guilt), the idea of the new and altered Eric as an opportunity, that
access to the higher rungs of the ladder of life. It was an idea he was
starting to hate even as it was already instituted in his brain and continuing to
colonize every section of his brain. ...

Chapter Twenty-eight

It was that clear to him. So, despite the enormous advice and coaching
from Niba at every second they had together now, or the fact that even part
of his brain wanted to see the logic in that, or the fact that the Scriptures had
a simplified version of it all in its “ask and you shall receive,” ...

Chapter Twenty-nine

Everybody has a plan for the future, and there is certainty in that.
Even those poor people close to the grave and knowing their fate
still draw plans for the future. Some plans can be really outrageous
and hairy, while some can be serious and realistic, but they are all plans for
the future. ...

Chapter Thirty

“Then he told me I wasn’t thinking big,” he said the words
without hating himself for saying them. The anger and that
feeling of being insulted were now completely gone. In fact he
felt excited, felt like he was someone new, someone new who was heading
for something big and worthwhile. ...

Chapter Thirty-one

It didn’t take longer that he had thought it would take. In less than a
month, one surprisingly bright April morning, the world all covered
now in green, he found himself at the post office collecting his
admission letter. It was inside an important looking envelop along with the
school’s brochure. ...

Chapter Thirty-two

He was still thinking about that line two days ago, when he
talked with Eric, thinking about it and finding no answer. He
could not see how he could repay Eric and even why Eric was willing to
stretch out his neck just to help him. ...

Chapter Thirty-three

Yes, he could understand that; understand the fact that in Cameroon to
get something like a passport was going to be something that called for a
godfather. Not that it was not possible to get one, but the problem was the
time it took (and that time was forever), and when the passport was needed in the right time, ...

Chapter Thirty-four

He called the man that evening, when Eric sent him the man’s
number. The voice that answered was a gentle and soft voice, the
type that caused you to start drawing images in your mind, images
of a person who was filled with nothing but goodness, someone who was
humble and honest. ...

Chapter Thirty-five

The taxi was hot inside, even though it was cold outside and Jude
could see low clouds hanging over every visible hill. There was no
rain yet, but the level of cloud cover showed that it was going to rain,
even if not soon. The low cloud was going to lift and show the face of a
darker cloud which was going to bring the rain. ...

Chapter Thirty-six

There’s always something about waking up in some form of peace and
tranquility, something that can not actually be described unless if it
involves talking about all that overwhelming feeling (which can at
times be very false), that feeling which says everything is okay. ...

Chapter Thirty-seven

Jude wanted to shake his head, no he did not really know if that was
possible or if he could believe something like that. Love was not in play here,
he did not think so. He was clear-headed and he could see this arrangement
for what it was; a cheap means to get what he wanted, just a matter of simple
convenience. ...

Chapter Thirty-eight

Jude turned his face to the door of the room as it opened suddenly and
Mabel walked into the room holding a small black plastic shopping bag in
her hand. He could make out a piece of bread inside the shopping bag,
just the shape of it, but it was unmistakable. Suddenly he felt hungry. ...

Chapter Thirty-nine

He had made that resolution and he intended to keep it. Just the
thought of walking back into Derrick’s house was enough to tear
through his heart and divide it into two and sprinkle those seeds of guilt
again in the torn heart. It was not the thought of the screaming child nor the
dragon lady and her sharp tongue, ...

Chapter Forty

“What friend?” Jude asked knowing full well who Niba was talking
about. It was one of the points these days that seemed to interest his diabolic
mind, and hate it as much as Jude did, he knew there was no way of stopping
Niba. To Niba it was just another way of breaking the day to day monotony
of pounding at computer keyboards, ...

Chapter Forty-one

Jude was in the room, sitting on the only couch in the hotel room, his
beating heart finally calming down and the paranoia drifting away. The man
before him was one of those honest looking people, a perfect face, a perfect
smile and that look that make you chastise yourself for having had any
flickers of paranoia. ...

Chapter Forty-two

“Stupid old woman,” Niba was saying, “I’ll show her that she’s just
a junk like all the others,” Niba was pounding the computer
keyboard as if it was the woman herself, as if he could see her
right there before him, “She thinks she’s smart, but she doesn’t know I’m a
genius.” ...

Chapter Forty-three

“Perfecto,” Niba cried looking at the computer screen, a smile
eating up all his face, “A junk is a junk,” he turned to Jude and
said, “This is how you handle them, don’t ever say I didn’t
teach you everything.” ...

Chapter Forty-four

The insinuations had almost gotten to him in the beginning. He had
found himself asking himself the question “what if”, his mind
opening up and listening more and more to what Niba had to say
about trusting a woman and a prostitute for that matter. But somehow he
had been able to put those insinuations and the questions to rest. ...

Chapter Forty-five

The room, which was actually the reception, was spotless. It was a
sizeable room with polished walls and white polished tiles on the
floor that were polished enough to reflect the light from the
fluorescent lamps hanging from the ceiling almost like it was the sun. The
reflected light was almost strong enough to hurt the eyes. ...

Chapter Forty-six

The office or more precisely the building (well it looked like the whole
building belonged to the organization from all he could see) was a
two-storey house in Cow Street. It was one of those buildings that
were now appearing overnight, taking the places of some old dilapidated
buildings that had stood at the position for years. ...

Chapter Forty-seven

The man had a PhD from Leeds University in Britain; he made that
clear to Jude. Jude felt himself being drawn to the man like a moth to
a light bulb. This was a man who knew what it took to get there, a
man who had been there and was back. It was impressive just listening to the
man talk; ...

Chapter Forty-eight

Later, after the man had taken him into another office, this one at the
second floor of the building and watch as he gave his information to
a young man who created a file for him in his computer, the man
handed him a brochure containing everything about the organization. ...

Chapter Forty-nine

The next day, Jude found himself in the two-storey building again. He
was the first person to walk into the building that morning who was
not working with the organization or a member of the organization.
He felt all nervous and all shaky in his feet but somehow he knew he had to
do it, ...

Chapter Fifty

“How much do you have already?” Niba asked him two days
later after he had explained his adventures of the past days
to him. They were in a bar, on Niba’s insistence, “Come on,
man, I need a beer.” ...

Chapter Fifty-one

That night he found himself actually praying to God for luck in getting
as many junks as possible. It was the first time he had ever asked
God for any help with his scamming business consciously and he
caught himself before he could go through with the prayers. ...

Chapter Fifty-two

The first person who opened his mouth and said the words was Niba.
Not that Jude could not have said them himself or that he could not
see the writing on the wall. He could’ve said it for he too could see
the writing on the wall, but it was Niba who said the words quietly one day in
the fourth week, “I think we’ve a little problem,” he said. ...

Chapter Fifty-three

“Why didn’t I think about this early?” Niba asked no one in
particular the next day still excited. Last night he had told
Jude only that he had found the solution to Jude’s problem
then had hung up, “Why didn’t I think about this early? Something so stupid
and easy?” ...

Chapter Fifty-four

It was easy, more than he would’ve thought it would be. He had thought
about the idea of taking a loan and the procedure that it entailed as
something that was going to take forever. But it was an easy task and it
was evident even in the eyes of the young loan officer who looked like he
was his age (though a lot swollen), ...

Chapter Fifty-five

Jude ran a hand over his jacket pocket again where the money was located,
he still felt naked even as he sat in the sofa inside the reception area of the
building. He stole a glance at the young woman busily punching away on
her computer keyboard and sent his hand into the pocket to feel the money
again. ...

Chapter Fifty-six

I’m going to solve a problem, he kept telling himself. It was a song in his
mind. And his mind needed that song. It was only when he had solved
the problem that he was going to get out of the dark cloud which he
was wrapped up in. ...

Chapter Fifty-seven

Of all the thoughts that ran through his head, the one that said he
might have been duped did not surface after he had handed the
money to James. It didn’t even register in his head after the first
week had passed nor did it even register after the second week was halfway
through. ...

Chapter Fifty-eight

As usual, the first person who opened his mouth and hinted him on
what the gray was really all about was Niba. He would’ve wanted to
say that it had been hidden, that deep in his heart he had not been
feeling it too, but that would’ve been a lie. For somewhere in his working
mind he saw what that gray was, ...

Chapter Fifty-nine

He slowly got up to his feet, but another wave of nausea sent him
back on his knee. He opened his mouth this time waiting for the
retching to start but nothing came, just that foul smell of whisky
spilling out in thick vapors from his parted lips. ...

Chapter Sixty

That statement ran through his brain as he had sat in the
cyber café that afternoon staring at the unblinking message on
the screen before him. It was a strange statement, a statement whose
meaning he did not think he knew or wanted to know. ...

Chapter Sixty-one

He slipped and fell, striking his knee on the ground as he fell. He felt
a hot intense pain shoot through his whole body, a pain that
temporally cleared his brain. The rain was still falling lightly but
soaking him and everything under the dark heavens. ...

Chapter Sixty-two

“It even delayed, man,” Niba’s eyes told him after he had made a big
scene of being surprised and understanding with him, “You too slept
together and it was just normal that something like that could’ve happened
again,” Niba’s eyes continued to tell him, “What did you expect?” ...

Chapter Sixty-three

“Hello?” the voice said in his ears, a voice he recognized
immediately, and suddenly he found himself trembling, his
heart beating a little faster. He had forgotten how it would
be and that idea that maybe he was just wasting his time, that the man at the
other end was not even going to talk to him once he knew who was calling. ...

Chapter Sixty-four

It was past midnight when he arrived. But it was the same hotel and
strangely the same hotel room and the same door that he knocked. The
rain outside was now a downpour, the heavens finally growing tired of
pretending with the drizzling rain and finally showing its true face. ...

Chapter Sixty-five

“I’ve been talking,” Niba said and shook his head. He knew Niba had
been telling him a story; a story which Niba thought was very funny. The
only problem was that he had not heard one word of the story as he had sat
there. And it was clear that Niba could see it too. ...

Chapter Sixty-six

He thought about the envelope again that night. The envelope was
still lying under the mattress where he had kept it that blessed
morning, lying there and catching some dust. The envelop that
was his payment! ...

Chapter Sixty-eight

Such a day was not supposed to be bright. It was supposed to be a day
with heavy ceilings of dark clouds and huge sketches of lightening
tearing through the sky like a picture of the apocalypse. But it was a
bright day, a rare occasion in Bamenda at that time of the year. ...

Epilogue

It was all over TV the next day, both local and national; a horrible scene
that was beyond anybody’s idea of horror. In every TV screen, the
journalist reporting the incident warned the viewers about the nature of
the pictures. Yet thousands were glued to their TV screens, watching and rewatching
and wondering how something like that had happened. ...

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